Hey guys!
It's been awhile, hasn't it? I'm officially back to real life after my family vacation out East and have tons to do in the next month before the One of a Kind Show so you might be seeing me a little more around here.
I brought a big bag of goodies to cut and sew while I was away for 10 days but with the two day drive on either end and the general great time visiting with family I haven't seen in years, I'm happy to say I didn't cut or sew a thing! If you know me at all you know I don't often go multiple days without sneaking at least a little Needlings work in - so I did good! And it was really lovely. But back to work now! I am really glad I had the chance to go with family and hang out and take pictures and have a good solid break before the final stretch until One of a Kind.
Now I'm back to working on finishing up a big restock batch of Owl Mamas to send to Kid Icarus in Toronto but took a small break to finish up a little custom robot order!
Bowties! I was happy to get around to making this little guy because I have been thinking about robots with bowties for a little while now. Deep thoughts.
So back to work! Owls then bunches and bunches of goodies for One of a Kind! You know the drill.
See you soon!
Week 309 is all wrapped up! The rest of week 310 and 311 will be spent out of the workroom while I head out to New Brunswick tomorrow to visit family so this is it until the end of October. I'm planning on bringing some handsewing and cutting to work on while I'm away of course but significantly less so it still counts!
These last couple weeks have been busy ones around here but the big important things are taken care of and as soon as I get back I'll be working away on more stock for One of a Kind Show!
This week has mostly been spent finishing up this big store restock for Kid Icarus in Toronto! The big Owl Mamas will have to be put on hold until I get back but I'm happy to say these are all on their way! Whew.
I'll see you guys when I return where all that and more will be on the worktable yet again before One of a Kind!
In the meantime, enjoy the rest of your October! I'll see you in a couple weeks!
Hey guys! There's only one day left in Needlings' anniversary month so the giveaway is over and a winner has been chosen! Congratulations to Susan! I hope to get another little giveaway going very shortly because so many of you entered it was hard to draw just one winner!
I also definitely plan on making more of the little kitty-eared girls before the One of a Kind show this December so keep an eye out for those too if you were one of the many people who asked me about them!
This week, though, I started off with finishing up a fairly owl heavy (shocking, right?) restock for White Rabbit in Iowa City! White Rabbit is one of the first stores that carried Needlings and one that holds a very special little place in my heart because I lived in Iowa City for many years and it's one of my favourite places. As someone who didn't live in their birthplace hometown very long, I can say after most of my high school years were spent there, it is one of my adopted hometowns for sure. Hamilton is definitely feeling more and more like home every year so you can add my current city to the list.
So back to business! Phone sleeves were first on the restock list because I had zero left after Supercrawl! Thank you so much to all the Hamilton area folks who walked away with a new little owl to keep their phones safe!
Then I had to add some bookmarks, pins and Owl Mamas to the bunch before packing them all up and sending them off to White Rabbit! Lucky!
We also set up a new cutting table in the Needlings workshop this week because, with more restocks ahead, and One of a Kind show coming up in December - there were lots of parts being cut and batches of things on the go and not quite enough places to keep them. Problem solved - works like a charm!
Gus loves a clean table too.
On the weekend I got to spend a little time with my dear friend Lisa's kitties, Greta (pictured below) and Rico, (and Lisa too of course) when we had a little Needlings cutting session after a lady lunch date and stroll on James North in Hamilton. I have the best friends! I'm looking forward to another similar day next Saturday - it's so lovely to have a little extra help here and there - I couldn't thank Lisa enough, who supplied the Pumpkin Chai tea and cut a few (felt) kitties for me!
I'll be spending the week now working on a big restock order for Kid Icarus in Toronto before getting ready to head out on a little family trip to visit extended family in New Brunswick in mid-October. I must say, while I love my job very much, I'm excited to pack up and head out for a little change of pace on the East coast! Autumn road trips are the best!
But I will of course see you all before then for a couple more Needlings recaps! Have a lovely week, friends!
Another week over! After my two big summer shows, this week was a little bit slower on the making and involved some organizing, paperwork, planning, and shipping some goodies off to Cincinnati to be a part of the Plush Team booth at Cincinnati Maker Faire!
This will be the third big American show I have the Plush Team to thank for setting up a little Needlings presence. I'm excited to see photos from the event pop up after the show on October 19th! If you're in the Cincinnate area - be sure to go check out the booth that will be filled with awesome plush from plush artist from all over the world! For more about the event, look here: http://cincinnatimakerfaire.com/
Next on the list was lots of reorganizing and scrap tidying so I could get to work on a little project I had planned for Needlings' sixth anniversary giveaway! The actual anniversary is September 27th when I started my Etsy shop way back in 2007 but I was making Needlings ahead of time so the month of September serves as my vague anniversary month celebrating! This time, after a big owl giveaway last year for my fifth anniversary, I went with kitties! And included an art doll of course.
Feel free to enter if you'd like! A winner will be chosen at the end of the month so you have the week to enter and rack up up to 10 enteries here: http://bit.ly/19pspSU Good luck!
I know I sap it up over here on a regular basis but I really can't say how much I appreciate all the support and love I've got through Needlings over these last six years. They have changed me for the better, I've grown up with you, and truly feel like a happier person excited for the future and endlessly thankful for the love I have and for finding something I love enough to never want to stop doing and putting my love in to. Whew, emotions! I'm such a sap!
But really, thank you.
was AMAZING.
I think I've already said it a million times but I really can't say enough how much I adore Supercrawl! Since the first rainy one night event in 2009 with 3,000 people to the two day event they estimated 100,000 people attended, I have loved Supercrawl! I have loved it every year and this year was no different! It makes me so proud of my new adopted home town and despite any hiccups, it's always one of my most favourite days of the year.
We got there bright and early and after a slow start to setting up due to a sculpture being installed on the street (SOCOOL) everything was set up and ready to go for the crowds!
It was so wonderful to see so many familiar faces and catch up with visitors from past years. I so love doing Hamilton shows and seeing some of my little regular customers who's parents bought them Needlings years ago, and come back to buy one for themselves or let me know where they keep their little guys Santa brought them. (So sweet!)
My mom was there as well with her knits mixed in to the booth! It was chilly enough by the end of the night that we had to wear our own cowls and happy to say Hamilton cleared us out and not one cowl was left by the end of the night! Same goes for my cell phone sleeves and little owls! Thanks everyone!
We we set up right out front of White Elephant which is a great little shop owned by two talented Hamilton girls. I tried to get a photo of them sitting perfectly on their super amazing painted bench during a couple minutes' down time but things picked right up and we were all too busy to stay long enough for my phone to turn on or for me to find my camera burried under my table but they are forgiven! I took a couple later on!
I, of course, loved their window filled with pompoms! You can see more aboutForopolis on their blog.
The late morning set- up meant all my photos needed to be taken fairly quickly in between the crowds which were pretty consisten all day but I still managed to get a few to document the day!
Luckily, Hamilton photographer Vanessa Jeakins also documented a few little moments at my booth that she has so kindly let me share here with you guys in these next seven photos! You can see more of her beautiful photos fromSupercrawl here.
Also some good shots of my booth neighbours, MC² Designs, who were super sweet and lovely all day!
There were so many awesome booths close by and in other parts of the street and Makers' Market, I regret not taking more time to look around at but the day just flew by and it was over before I knew it! Thank you to everyone who stopped by to say hello! I loved seeing every single one of you and I hope (and am sure!) everyone of you had as great a day as we did. I love being a part of the Hamilton art/craft community and your hugs and hellos are a big part of why I love Supercrawl so much!
So that's it for this year! I'll be all One of a Kind show prep all the the time now until December so get ready! I hope to see some of you there too!
